Review for WWE 2K20. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 22/10/2019
Some passions youth they tend to persevere over time, to remain attached with their teeth to the ego of an individual, colliding with the ineffable and ineluctable advance of time. Often times, these passions are labeled with a deadline, beyond which - for the right custom - they should be discarded, to execute the fateful leap towards maturity in the most just and credible way possible. "Now you are great, throw away that console!": Anyone, at least once in their life, has heard this phrase. Fortunately, it extends not only to the world of video games, clearly the favorite target of an outdated and racist conception of things, but also to other types of passions that we often tend to exchange with the proverbial kids' things, to avoid like the plague after coming of age. Among these, we challenge anyone not to think so, certainly also figures Wrestling, a discipline halfway between sport and pure entertainment that marked the childhood of a large part of our - but not only - generation.
Imagine, therefore, what happens when the almost diabolical combination of videogames-Wrestling is formed, whose videogame history has undergone a long and troubled path, especially in recent years. Even when, on the face of the writer, the beard was not even a remote idea, the games linked to the universe S e Raw they were almost perfect: solid gameplay, lots of licenses and, above all, unspeakable fun. Over time, however, things have changed a lot and, in line with the general interest index for the discipline itself, the average quality and above all the attractiveness of WWE-branded titles have dropped more and more, ending at the edge of the general interest with frightening speed. Thanks to the switch to 2K in recent years, however, something seemed destined to move (for good, of course), but it did not happen, or rather it was only partially. With WWE 2K19, in truth, everything finally seemed to have taken an acceptable and very clear direction. And therefore we do not hide the great desire we had to try our hand at the episode 2K20, which also promised to make us take a good leap into the past and into the evergreen boulevard of memories, which, at the end of the race, turned out to be far more problematic than one might imagine. WWE 2K20 is a game with many problems, with many shadows and very few lights, but still certainly able to rekindle in us the desire for Wrestling, so far dormant.
Unfortunately, however, the title is not to be praised for playful merits - objectively few - but to be sought only in the goodness of an exorbitant cast (thanks to the almost full license of the league), which gleefully sweeps between the stars of today and the legends of the past, in an impressive soundtrack, and in the many game modes, however, all penalized upstream by a playful and graphic structure of an almost unattained level.
Forget about Three
We said it a while ago: in terms of the content offer, among the few innovations and numerous confirmations, the title developed by Visual Concepts (the same as NBA 2K, attention) has nothing to envy to the heavyweights of the genre it belongs to, which for convenience we will define sporty. And, therefore, between one event and another, Hell in the Cell, Tag Team, Money in The Bank and many others - all also available online, with a fast matchmaking and good server stability - the new 2K Showcase this year is entirely dedicated to the women's revolution and in particular to the rise of "Four horsewomen“, And that is to say Sasha Banks, Bayley, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. There are small additions in terms of personalization of the matches, but the career mode is clearly the master: the “My Player” of WWE 2K20 this year appeared to us overall well written and addressed.
The background story, which climbs up over 18 chapters and which has all in all aroused more than a laugh and amused us, certainly has the merit of knowing how to best tell the story of a world, that of Wrestling, made up of maneuvers of marketing, real or presumed rivalries, occasional alliances, fake blows and lots and lots of entertainment. What better way than to tell the birth, growth and affirmation of a young star who, practically, starts from scratch, with everything that follows? Probably none and the whole thing works properly. The whole narrative plot, however, develops on different temporal planes in which the protagonist, fully customizable but still called "Three”As a speaker, press and various supporting actors, he is now a member of the league's Hall of Fame and relives his past exploits through a large number of flashbacks. These are not limited to being experienced by spectators, but they take us to the ring every time, to replicate - being careful to respect certain conditions - the same stages that led events to take the current turn. The real gem, however, lies in sharing the story: after creating the first character, the game will ask you to create another one, but not as a sidekick as you might imagine, but as a real co-star.
Following the story of Tre and Red (generic name given to the female character of the duo) throughout the narrative arc is certainly enjoyable, thanks to an underlying hilarity that is sometimes excessive. Needless to say, the WWE 2K20 campaign is full of clichés and things already seen and heard, but all in all it makes sense and perfectly frames what could be the path of any self-respecting young wrestler.
Don't try this at home… Literally!
Well, basically the good news regarding WWE 2K20 ends there. Once in the ring, whatever the game mode you choose, you quickly realize how much the title has suffered a strong downgrade both in graphic terms (more on this later) and in terms of play. First, the developers have thought about simplifying the control scheme of the various fights, and this idea is not entirely wrong. In truth, however, everything quickly turns into a real nightmare, generated by a continuous woodiness and frustration in the impossibility of imparting the slightest input to one's alter ego.
It is in fact difficult, despite a single button used for “simple” shots, to attack opponents with precision, since only facing each other is terribly plastered and incomplete. The wrestlers seem to almost not respond to inputs and slip into the ring, preventing in most cases even the effective control of their movements. The whole thing does not improve in the slightest when analyzing the hitbox of the attacks, all very dirty and not very credible, which put a strain on even the most loyal of fans of the saga. And it must be said that, if in co-op it is also fun and pleasant, against the AI (on average strong) it all takes on very different connotations. In fact, many clashes quickly become a continuous subject to enemy attacks, due to the impossibility of parrying the blows, since everything is linked by the skill in counterattacking in time.. If you did not have lightning-fast reflexes and when the game remembers to take the lead in time, in essence you will take repeated shots, with no possibility of defense or almost. Even the most elaborate moves, actually protagonists of a satisfying variety, suffer from the same problem linked to the almost non-existent reactivity of the game controls. This weighs heavily not only on the gameplay itself, but also largely frustrates the excellent character development system in the Career.
Your alter-egos, in fact, can be developed through a very long tree of skills (not very complex, indeed) which enhances various physical and technical aspects of the fighter. In addition to the physical parameters or the strength (or resistance) to the grips and the various moves, it is possible to unlock real additional skills, to be added to a numbered slot of always new skills. A very beautiful and apparently profound system which, however, as we said earlier, is quickly nullified by the countless amount of problems at the root of an almost disastrous gameplay. All this without considering that, at the moment, the game suffers from numerous bugs that make the gameplay even more difficult.
Old-time graphics
Where WWE 2K20 gives its worst is undoubtedly in the graphics sector. Beyond the "simple" overall quality of textures and lighting, which seem to have come from a past generation of consoles (maybe even two), the overall picture is incredibly low quality. Although similar in the face, most of the athletes appear modeled in a way that is anything but praiseworthy, with elements such as facial animations, textures of the faces and hair and movements in general that seem to come seriously from the time PlayStation 3 e Xbox 360. It makes us really strange to ascertain all this, where 2K and Visual Concepts with the NBA 2K series have established real new quality standards in technical terms, but we are still forced to take note.
The whole does not improve even as regards the general framework: although the public is overall well characterized and diversified, everything is on average poor and almost unreal, even in terms of proportions. At times it felt like we were watching a match as if we were looking through a plastic bottle, and you can imagine the result. Fortunately, the scenarios are saved thanks to the licenses, which offer a visual impact very similar to reality as regards the general interface, introductions and other small details that a fan cannot fail to notice and appreciate. The audio sector is very good, fortunately, and you can see it in the dubbing of the athletes and in the commentary, but also and above all in the beautiful soundtrack selected specifically for the title. We happened to stay a long time listening to the splendid songs in the game menus, and then sadly suspend them to start a (tedious) game.
WWE 2K20 is a title full of not only modes and licenses, but also and above all problems. Leaving aside the numerous bugs, certainly solvable with various patches and fixes, the problems of the title start from a deficient play structure directly at the base. A difficult and woody gameplay, difficult to assimilate, is one of the most negative points of the work, whose maximum breaking point is reached by an incredibly poor graphic sector and which, in no uncertain terms, seems to come from a different generation of consoles. Too bad, because modalities such as career are interesting, but they cannot by themselves raise the overall judgment on the game. We really hope for a change of course in the coming years because, childish passion or not, WWE does not deserve such a poor playful conversion.
► WWE 2K20 is a Simulation-Sports game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Games for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 22/10/2019
